Deuteronomy 4:41

"Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in the past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites."

The mention of the cities of refuge appears, not only here, but in Numbers 35:9-24; Deuteronomy 19:13; and in Joshua 20:1-9. There are two ways to understand this insertion of Moses' appointment of these cities right here squarely between the first and second addresses recorded in Deuteronomy:

(1) First, there is the dogmatic, unsupported, unproved, and ridiculous notion that the forger who gave us this work had no rhyme nor reason whatever in the way he put the book together. He just junked a lot of things together, and here is where this particular "tradition" came out! All who want that explanation are welcome to it.

(2) There is the accurate, Scripturally-supported reason for the appointment of these cities being mentioned right here: "The interval between the first and second addresses is exactly the point in time when Moses named and set apart these three cities."[35] Cook's further comment on this is:

"Then Moses severed the three cities, that is, the fact narrated took place historically after Moses spoke the one discourse, and before the delivered the other. Thus, Moses carried out a previous command of God, and so followed up his command for obedience by setting a punctual example of it, as far as opportunity was given him?"[36]